JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

09/18/08 02:38 PM

Normally I disagree with Hoenlein , BUT this time he is 100% correct. Being against achminadajad is not partisan. Hillary is 100% wrong for not attending. And I am an Obama supporter

09/18/08 03:08 PM

the AZM sent an email today with a flier saying that both palin and clinton are speaking at the rally. has something changed? anyone know hwats that is about?

09/18/08 04:26 PM

Malcolm Hoenlein does not have a naive bone in his body. Inviting Palin is part of his ongoing agenda to tilt the Conference of President’s rightward both on Israel and domestic policy. No one who works in the public arena could possible think that a political candidate and an officeholder are equivalant.
mjs

09/19/08 03:23 AM

Formally disinviting Gov. Sarah Palin, possibly future vice president of the US, to speak at the rally as a result of political posturing by Hillary Clinton and threats from the Stalinist Left, is a disgrace. So much for a cause greater than one’s party, so much for freedom of speech, so much for not giving into intimidation.

Having both Clinton and Palin at the same event seems pretty bi-partisan and evenhanded to me. Hillary is not a mere “office holder.” She is actively campaigning for Obama and saying “No Palin” at campaign stops. It suddenly becomes “partisan” to her when Republicans are afforded the same equal invitation as Democrats. So who is partisan?

Further proof of this fact is that when she withdrew, the organizers extended a hand to let any Democrat come and speak in her stead. They could have sent Biden, or anyone else. 

At first they chose Wexler, the person who, when Plain was chosen as VP candidate, said it was “an insult to Jews” and lied that she supported Buchanan. 

So this was all about silencing Palin, who the Democrats are scared of.

Gov. Palin has an excellent record on Israel and has been an outspoken critic of Iran.

Long before she was a candidate for VP, she had an Israeli flag in her office even though the Jewish population of Alaska is only 6,000.  She signed a resolution honoring Israel on its 60th birthday and supporting Alaska’s ties to the Jewish state. She met with Israeli Foreign Ministry official David Akov, Israel’s consul general for the Pacific Northwest, and they discussed cooperation between Israel and Alaska on various issues, including counterterrorism efforts. He invited her to visit Israel and she impressed upon him her desire to do so, reportedly telling him that Alaska’s residents love Israel.

The organizers want to stop Iran? They can’t even stand up to liberal intimidation in New York. What a joke!

This is not only wrong, it’s plain dumb. When Palin becomes vice president, don’t be surprised if she is not thrilled to listen to our causes in the White House. With friends like this, who needs enemies? 

I was going to attend - with or without Hillary there - but doubt I will now. 

Mark Bernstein
Vice President, Netivot Israel Louna Terror Victim Fund

09/19/08 07:33 AM

The action of the Council was craven and repellent.  The Iranians will not respect an organization that shrinks in fear from having a Republican politician on a rostrum because a Democratic Senator took a walk.  Where was the Council when backbones were distributed?

09/19/08 08:38 AM

Michael Strassfeld is totally off-base—whining about President’s Conference not being in step w/his lefty agenda he writes: “No one who works in the public arena could possible think that a political candidate and an officeholder are equivalant.”

How utterly facile.

Who’s Afraid of Sarah Palin?
Hillary Clinton, that’s who.

“[Mrs.] Clinton has pulled out of an appearance at a New York rally next week to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because she doesn’t want to be seen alongside Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a “partisan” event, her aides say.”

“[Palin’s] attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event,” Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said Wednesday. “Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending.”

It’s rather Orwellian to describe an event as “partisan” because it was designed to include members of both parties. As for Mrs. Clinton, she has an obvious political motive for avoiding Palin. She is much more likely to win the presidency in 2012 if Barack Obama loses this year--but she cannot afford for Democrats to think that she is acting on that basis, and appearing with Palin would reinforce that suspicion.

All this was anticipated by “Saturday Night Live,” whose season premiere this weekend featured a sketch in which Tiny Fey as Palin and Amy Poehler as Mrs. Clinton staged a joint appearance to protest media sexism.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans,” said Fey as Palin. “I was so excited when I was told Sen. Clinton and I would be addressing you tonight.”

Replies Poehler as Mrs. Clinton: “And I was told I would be addressing you alone.”

Strassfeld is more concerned about his lefty agenda than about the real of Iran.

In the meantime - the Iranian Hitler-wannabe will even destroy the lefty vision of an even tinier Israel:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at Israel on Thursday, saying the Jewish state would not survive, even if it gave up land for a Palestinian state. “I have heard some say the idea of greater Israel has expired,” Ahmadinejad said. “I say that the idea of lesser Israel has expired, too.” Ahmadinejad will travel to New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly. The Iranian president repeated previous anti-Israel comments, calling the Holocaust a “fake” and saying that Israel is perpetrating a holocaust on the Palestinian people.

09/19/08 03:09 PM

The presence of Palin at the rally
would GUARANTEE major coverage of
the rally by the national & network
news (ABC News, NBC News, CBS News,
CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc.) and international
(BBC, ITN, etc.).
The absence of Palin means that only New
Yorkers will get to see coverage on
their local “ten-oclock news”.

By disinviting Palin, the organizers
proved that they don’t give a damn
about “getting the message out” about
Iran’s danger to Israel, and what they
are really after is just a “gee, look
what I did! I made a rally!” picture
to put in their next fundraising letter.

How dare these “leaders” lose coverage
for this rally ?!
Disgusting!
All the more disgusting, if the “leaders”
dumped Palin under orders from the NYC
Democratic Party Machine, because they
know that the Jews likely to show up
for such a rally (i.e Jews who know what’s
going on in the Middle East and have been
there) and would probably be cheering Palin and Booing Obama).

Shame on the disinviters of Palin.
Iran applauds your decision to effectively
remove the event from the nightly news.

09/19/08 03:37 PM

I am in truly shocked at the decision of Senator Clinton and the decision by the the powers that be to disinvite Palin.  What a disgrace.  Governor Palin, I apologize for the way the Jewish community has treated you and thank you for offering to come to this rally which should be above political party.

09/19/08 03:49 PM

>>No one who works in the public arena could possible think that a political candidate and an officeholder are equivalant.

What does this mean??? Last I checked, both Palin and Clinton were BOTH officeholders!

09/19/08 03:58 PM

To Mister Strassfeld,

No one who is a ‘Rabbi’ should be sharing his extreme left leanings in a public forum. Hoenlein was pressured by leftist organizations within the council after Clinton cancelled. Your party cancelled! They abandoned you in the face of Akhmadinijad! They will do it again!

Thanks for serving on my conservative din. I left your Haskalah movement a long time ago.